How do I get a US visa for my Filipino partner?

For most couples who are able to marry first, the spouse visa is the simpler and cheaper route. The K-1 makes sense when you want to marry in the US, or when marrying in the Philippines is not practical. If you plan to marry in the Philippines first, the page on what a foreigner needs to get married there covers the steps.

Since late October 2026, USCIS no longer accepts checks for most mailed applications. You pay by credit card or bank transfer.

A 2025 law created a US$250 visa integrity fee for visitor and fiancé(e) visas, but as of November 5, 2026 we could find no notice that it is being collected. Some websites list it as if it were. Check the State Department's fee page when you apply.

1. The US citizen files Form I-130 with USCIS, online or by mail. USCIS changed the mailing address on October 7, 2026, so check the current address on the form's page.
2. After approval, the case moves to the National Visa Center. You pay the visa fee and the Affidavit of Support fee, then upload the forms and the civil documents.
3. The Filipino spouse has the medical exam at St. Luke's Extension Clinic in Ermita, Manila, and then the interview at the US Embassy in Manila. Bring every original document. Since May 2025, an applicant missing any original is not interviewed and has to book again.
4. After the visa is issued, pay the USCIS Immigrant Fee online, attend the Commission on Filipinos Overseas counseling session, and travel.
5. If you had been married less than 2 years when the visa was issued, the green card lasts 2 years. File Form I-751 in the 90 days before it expires to get the 10 year card.

1. The US citizen files Form I-129F with proof that you have met in person in the last 2 years and that you are both free to marry.
2. After approval, the case goes to the embassy in Manila. Your partner fills in the DS-160 form, which must list every social media account used in the last 5 years. Since March 30, 2026, fiancé(e) applicants must set their social media accounts to public.
3. Your partner has the medical exam at St. Luke's and an in person interview. Fiancé(e) visas do not qualify for interview waivers.
4. After the visa is issued, your partner attends the counseling session and travels to the US.
5. You must marry within 90 days of arrival. The K-1 cannot be extended, and it cannot lead to a green card through anyone else.
6. After the wedding, file Form I-485 for the green card, with an Affidavit of Support. A work permit and a travel permit are optional extra applications.

USCIS publishes its own processing times, and they change month to month. Recent reports put both the fiancé(e) petition and the spouse petition at roughly a year at USCIS alone. For spouse visas, the National Visa Center and the embassy add more months after that. In October 2026, Manila was scheduling interviews for spouse cases whose paperwork had been complete since about February 2026.

Plan for well over a year from filing to arrival, and check the USCIS processing times page for your form before you make plans around a date.

The US citizen signs Form I-864, a legal promise to support the immigrant, and must show income of at least 125% of the US poverty guidelines. For 2026, in the 48 mainland states, that is:

• If your income is short, savings and other assets can make up the gap. For a spouse, the assets must be worth at least 3 times the shortfall.
• Up to two joint sponsors can also sign. Each must be a US citizen or permanent resident living in the US, and must meet the income test on their own.

The sponsor must be domiciled in the United States. If you live in the Philippines, you can still sponsor your spouse if you show that your stay abroad is temporary, for example with a US address, US bank accounts, US tax filings or a US voting record, or that you intend to move back to the US no later than when your spouse arrives. A joint sponsor can cover income, but not this domicile requirement.

USCIS closed its Manila office in 2019. The embassy accepts a spouse petition directly only in exceptional cases, such as a medical emergency, and is not required to. Everyone else files online with USCIS.

• PSA birth certificate, and the PSA marriage certificate for spouse cases.
• A PSA CENOMAR (certificate of no marriage) or Advisory on Marriages. The embassy treats it as valid for 1 year, so do not order it too early.
• An NBI clearance that lists every name your partner has used, plus police certificates from any country they lived in for a year or more after age 16.
• Proof that any earlier marriage has ended, such as an annotated record of an annulment.
• The medical exam at St. Luke's Extension Clinic in Ermita, the only clinic that does US immigration exams in Manila. Book it about 2 weeks before the interview. If a tuberculosis culture is needed, results take about 8 weeks.
• The Commission on Filipinos Overseas (CFO) Guidance and Counseling Program, required for Filipino spouses and fiancé(e)s of foreign nationals after the visa is issued and before departure. It takes about 3 hours, is held in Manila, Cebu, Davao, Baguio and Cagayan de Oro, and must be booked online.
• At the airport, the Bureau of Immigration checks the visa, the CFO certificate and the eTravel registration.

Under US immigration law, every visitor visa applicant is presumed to intend to immigrate until they prove otherwise. A partner who is a US citizen is a strong reason for a consular officer to think your partner may stay, so these applications are often refused. The B-2 visa fee is US$185 and is not refunded.

Entering on a visitor visa while already planning to marry and stay can also be treated as misrepresentation, which causes serious problems later. If you are thinking about it, talk to an immigration lawyer first.

• Missing an original document at the Manila interview, which now means rebooking it.
• Ordering the CENOMAR too early, so it has expired by the interview.
• Leaving the fiancé(e)'s social media accounts private.
• A sponsor living abroad with no evidence of a US domicile.
• Choosing the K-1 by default when marrying first would be cheaper and faster after arrival.
• Mailing an I-130 to the old USCIS address, or paying by check.
• Trusting fee tables on older websites. Several fees changed in 2024, 2025 and 2026.